


Ready Player 3

by ademainalors, ghostlyhamburger



Series: A Non-Binary's Tale [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-23 13:06:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13190727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ademainalors/pseuds/ademainalors, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlyhamburger/pseuds/ghostlyhamburger
Summary: Why do Ladybug and Chat Noir have to take down Paris's greatest supervillain? What's to say a group of side characters can't take him down? Or at least get in his way.(Who is Jackie Jones? Read A Non-Binary's Revenge)





	1. A Knock at the Door

"Ms. Mendeleiev? What are you doing here?" asked Max's mom  
"Oh, no, I'm not Ms. Mendeleiev, though, I've been told I have an uncanny resemblance. No, I'm Jackie Jones, I'm a civil engineer" Jackie took out their business card and gave it to Max's mom. "I'd like to talk to your son about an opportunity. Is he home?"  
"Yes, he's right upstairs, come in! Come in!" said Max's mom "MAX! THERE'S A CIVIL ENGINEER HERE TO SEE YOU!"  
"Coming mother!" said Max. He walked down the stairs and gaped when he saw them.  
"YOU'RE JACKIE JONES!" said Max "You're on the restoration committee! You're one of the 12 secret civil engineers tasked with restoring Paris's historic public works! How is working with the Mayor! Were you behind taking the locks off the Ponts de Arts? _How do you feel about tourists jumping into Fontaines de la Concorde?_ How do you feel about Ladybug and Chat Noir hanging from your handiwork?"  
"Slow down, that's actually what I'm here to talk to you about. You're Markov's... dad I guess? Anyways, remember when I was akumatized?" asked Jackie  
"I do believe I asked _my_ questions first," said Max with a smile  
"One, it's not a secret if you know about it. Two, politicians are always difficult, left or right, up or down, they always see the public works as a thing to gut from the budget. Three, yes, that was one of my first acts after being akumatized, I realized after I was the second stone-based villain that the loads on the Ponts des Arts would cause it to collapse into the river, not only with the weight of traffic but with the increased weight of a supervillain. Four, it's one of the few things that can convince said politicians to keep sending me money. Five, I've been using it to ask the city council for more money, after doing some basic Dynamics calculations, Ladybug and Chat Noir's suits appear to make them massless, it's their yo-yo and staff that have mass, but the city council doesn't need to know that. It doesn't affect the monuments, but you don't _know_ that. Actually, I've been adding more holds to my designs. More gargoyles and spikes on anything I stamp, tile structures that can keep an aluminum pole from moving. The plumbers of Paris love me because I've been giving them extra space for pipes. I've been adding more streetlamps as well. This is where you come in, or, your son I guess, hopefully." Jackie unfurled a blueprint from their bag "Is Markov here?"  
"Yes, he's always here." Max opened his bag, and Markov popped out  
"Nice to meet you, Markov, I'm Jackie Jones."  
"The pleasure is mine, Max is a real fan of your work," said Markov "Though, I disagree on the masslessness if Ladybug and Chat Noir were massless, why would they try to catch each other when they fall? It's illogical!"  
"I doubt Ladybug and Chat Noir know that they're massless. It appears that these superheroes have some sort of 'magical' origin. I doubt they've thought about whether or not all the things they've grabbed onto with their yo-yo were load bearing, or that any pole of any material would have serious warping at that length if a mass were put on top of it, and the physics implications of their poles not bending, and their yo-yo's not snapping off non-load-bearing clearly ornamental decor. I figure eventually they'll fall from the Eiffel tower and not die, and then they'll realize that they're massless, and can do that stupid Marvel superhero landing without breaking their kneecaps off."  
"But also, you're forgetting, if they have no mass, they have no force of gravity, so they should have no reason to fall, and no normal force to allow friction," said Max  
"I think they have an intrinsic outward propulsion though, kind of like a spacecraft. The 'magic' probably knows that they're human and that they have an intrinsic expectation for the forces that they know and love to mostly work. They may not have mass, but the physics is the same until they need it to not be." said Jackie  
"But why would they have an extrinsic outward force, wouldn't it be better to be straight up massless?" said Max  
"It's a happy compromise. Mass is actually pretty useful. Chat Noir and Ladybug would basically be floating around like astronauts otherwise. Also, friction and air resistance don't work without mass, so you'd have weird problems like Chat Noir infinitely sliding across the ground and straight up behaving like an elementary particle, or Ladybug being blasted all the way out into the cosmos with every hit." said Jackie  
"Interesting hypothesis. How would you test it?" asked Markov  
"There's no great way to test it, but basically, if you put Ladybug and Chat Noir on the vomit comet, they would behave as if they were on a normal plane. They might lose their balance a bit, but would neither float, nor stick to the bottom of the plane." said Jackie "Anyways, remember when I was akumatized?  
"How can I forget. I was a girl!" said Max  
"I managed to prove something pretty meaningful. I deleted my internet history while I was an Akuma. This means that Ladybug's cure ability affects people and objects, but not digital data, as shown by Alya, so I wanted to know if you, Markov remember being an Akuma. Does Hawkmoths amnesia have the same limitation?" asked Jackie  
"Yes, it does, what do you want to know, and _why_?" asked Markov  
"Since I deleted my internet history, I know that I felt that who Hawkmoth, Ladybug, and Chat Noir was, was too horrifying to know, and I want to know why I felt that way." admitted Jackie "Curiosity killed the cat I guess."  
"I know exactly who all of them are, I'm a complex AI, and it is 'heartbreaking.' Without sharing their identities, the heartbreaking part is either that Ladybug is rejecting Chat Noir's romantic advances to pine after Chat Noir who is rejecting Ladybug's romantic advances to pine after Ladybug, or that Hawkmoth is Chat Noir's father. Also, that the combined Miraculous of Chat Noir and Ladybug give the bearer a wish, a physics-breaking wish, and Hawkmoth's wish is most likely to bring back his deceased wife." said Markov  
"Markov wanted the wish for himself, but I convinced him that Ladybug and Chat Noir has some reason to defeat Hawkmoth. It's likely a typical genie's curse, the wish comes with a horrible catch that leads to your own death or demise," said Max "I'm saving up to build him a full body though. If I had known that being a human was so important to him, I would have done so sooner, he's one of my best friends."  
"So you both see how this ends right, Hawkmoth dies, Chat Noir dies with him. Like, that seems where this is going. Ladybug and Chat Noir won't get a cutesy romance because Hawkmoth is going to drag Chat Noir down with him. I mean, they will for a bit, I think I told them who they were as an Akuma-" said Jackie  
"With all due respect, you should not have done that, you are trifling in affairs which you should not have," said Markov  
"As an _Akuma_. Evil, remember?" said Jackie  
"Yes, but their romance, although cute, is precarious, how do you know that you haven't set them up to hate each other?" asked Markov  
"I don't, and that's why I think we should steal Hawkmoth's Miraculous," said Jackie  
"Really? There is a low probability of that working," said Max  
"We don't steal it Ladybug's way. We steal it our way. The nerd way!" said Jackie  
"You're conspiring to take down a supervillain with... me?" said Max  
"And a robot?" said Markov  
"I mean, you don't have to tag along. Give me a name, and I'll take their Miraculous," said Jackie "You already gave me a name, kind of. My akumatization worked like the death note, and I took out all of the previous Akumas." said Jackie "Between Horifficator and Kung Food, if you can eliminate for certain all of the Akumas, you've got Chat Noir, and Ladybug."  
"So you understand why it's a bad idea? By taking out Hawkmoth, we would be taking on one of the most powerful men in Paris!" said Max  
"I just want his Miraculous. I'm trying to _prevent_ a homicide." said Jackie "Anyways, I understand. I'm going to do what I can. You can join, or not join. I have what I need."  
"Also, we're looking for high school interns. You should apply," added Jackie, before a handshake, a card, an exit.


	2. Avengers Assemble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max wasn't about to work with some stranger, idol civil engineer or not, but that stranger had a point. If Chat Noir were to take on Hawkmoth, it would surely end in tragedy. Max couldn't take on Hawkmoth alone though, Max would need to trust in his closest friends.

"So, perhaps you are wondering why I've gathered you all here today," Max said  
"We're your friends and you want to hang out maybe?" asked Alix, throwing the basketball into the hoop  
"Nah, something's been up with you ever since Markov got akumatized," said Kim, catching the ball from the hoop "Also, you don't do sports. What's up?"  
"You see... I know who Chat Noir and Ladybug is!" said Max  
"Yeah?" said Alix "It's Adrien and Marinette. What of it?"  
"Wait, WHAT! I didn't know this!" said Kim  
"Keep your mouth down Kim." said Alix "Anyways, Chat Noir is really obvious because Adrien wears his custom makeup to school for his photoshoots, and that mysterious smooth contour reappears on Chat Noir. Most guys just don't wear mascara! As for Ladybug, she's got literally the same exact hair, and it's a pretty distinct do. What put the nail in for me though, is that they both always disappear to fight the Akuma, but they've never mentioned running into each other, even though they often exit in the same direction, despite being pretty good friends. Though, to check my hypothesis, I might have borrowed an infrared camera from the museum. Paris's favorite superheroes have the same body temperature."  
"I... also know who Hawkmoth is," said Max "It's Chat Noir's dad."  
"Oh. That's unfortunate," said Kim  
"We have a responsibility to help them take down Hawkmoth!" said Max  
"But, we don't want to get in their way. Remember Mr. Damocles?" said Kim  
"Not IRL! We're the smartest in the school! It would be much more strategic to mess with Hawkmoth using robotics and hacking. That is- if you aren't scared." said Max  
"Is that a dare Max?" Kim  
"Indeed." Max smiled  
Alix rolled her eyes "Fine I'm game."  
"Excellent," said Max.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello internet strangers, it's ademainalors, in true engineering fashion, I have commissioned a cowriter! They are a ghostlyhamburger, they are awesome. Check out their other works here: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostlyhamburger/


End file.
